If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the FAQ by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

jay-walking

Recently we held a class meeting to discuss the problem of pedestrians crossing the street while the traffic light is red.As we can see, some pedestrians don’t obey traffic rules and jay-walk frequently. This blocks traffic, seriously affects accidents to happen,endangering the safety of pedestrians and drivers alike. In short, jay-walking produces negative effects and does not help to develop good social behavior.
Are the underlined words in red natural to use in real-life situations?

Can you recommend an alternative or a more common way to express the behavior of pedestrains' crossing the street ignoring the red light? Both words and phrases are welcome.

Re: jay-walking

We do jump red lights in BrE. We don't use "jaywalk". We don't have a word for it in BrE because crossing the road in any place you choose is not illegal. It might be stupid not to use the official pedestrian crossing but, in the UK, there is nothing to stop you crossing the road anywhere you like.

Remember - if you don't use correct capitalisation, punctuation and spacing, anything you write will be incorrect.

Re: jay-walking

Originally Posted by emsr2d2

We do jump red lights in BrE. We don't use "jaywalk". We don't have a word for it in BrE because crossing the road in any place you choose is not illegal. It might be stupid not to use the official pedestrian crossing but, in the UK, there is nothing to stop you crossing the road anywhere you like.

According to Wikipedia: "The United Kingdom does not formally describe priority regulations for drivers and pedestrians at road junctions or other locations, except with respect to marked Zebra, Pelican, and Puffin crossings, where motorists are required to give way to pedestrians under defined conditions."